a l work as a fireman and I came up with
Page 51
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
the idea for an open day at our station for raising funds for the Fire Brigade Benevolent Fund.
We have plans to give fare paying persons a ride on the public highway on a fire engine but our brigade will not allow us the use of their appliance because of its tax exemption. We are thinking of trying to obtain an old A FS appliance which would have to be taxed. Is road tax a problem as it would only carry 8 persons a time including the driver? We are informed by our local tax office, that it could be taxed
as Hackney Carriage. The insurance we also think we can arrange without trouble if we were to obtain a fire appliance for this purpose. Are there any other regulations which might be a problem to us?
Is any other certificate or special licence required for the vehicle or driver, who would be a brigade fire appliance driver?
AThere would appear to be almost insurmountable difficulties to your scheme for raising money for your Benevolent Fund in the way you suggest. A few of them are listed below:
1) If you carry passengers for hire or reward (and this is in fact what you would be doing} you would require a Public Service Vehicle Licence and under the circumstances you describe this would be very difficult to obtain.
21 The driver would require a PSV driver's 'licence and the vehicle would have to comply with the PSV Regulations as to construction etc.
The only suggestion we can make, and this may not be practicable for you, is to confine the rides to some place off the road, eg. around the yard of your fire station or in an adjoining field. In this case none of the laws would apply but you would be wise to take out insurance to cover any possible injury to any of the passengers In view of your particular job we expect you work in very close co-operation with the local police. It may be that they could offer you some advice as how to get around this particular problem: a chat with them may prove helpful.